{"id":180,"date":"2021-01-13T15:31:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T20:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/?p=180"},"modified":"2021-01-13T15:31:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T20:31:48","slug":"an-invitation-to-study-and-preserve-storm-lake-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/2021\/01\/an-invitation-to-study-and-preserve-storm-lake-history\/","title":{"rendered":"An invitation to study and preserve Storm Lake history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Published in the Storm Lake Times<\/em> (December 11, 2020)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I graduated from Buena Vista University in 1998, I knew Storm Lake only pragmatically \u2013 where certain professors lived, the fastest walk to Lake Avenue, and where the Pantry Caf\u00e9 was (RIP, dear friend). Such is life on a campus quad, sheltered from the Real World, ensconced in books by one-named greats. I labored to learn of the wider world, to think beyond the boundaries of Iowa. So few of us realized, though, how businesses with global ties were transforming our own back yard. To see beyond the region, as you Storm Lakers well know, all we had to do was set down Milton and Flaubert and take a stroll along Milwaukee or Flindt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, the more I learned of the world\u2014driving around America, living in Argentina for two years, in South Africa for one, and through graduate training in frontier history at Yale University\u2014the more I could appreciate the forces shaping life in Storm Lake. At Yale, conversations about capitalism, and its challenges, often took place in classes on Africa or Latin America, but in those moments my mind often returned to the small town I once hardly knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During\nthose years outside the Midwest, my wife Mar\u00eda and I started a family. She is\nfrom Argentina, but we now live in Oxford, Ohio, where I am a professor of\nhistory at Miami University. As a result of our bilingual household, we have\nthree girls who think, like many Storm Lakers must, that empanadas<\/em> (meat\npies) and milanesa<\/em> (chicken cutlet) are as American as apple pie, that merienda<\/em>\n(afternoon snack time) is sacrosanct. They might be right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only\ntwo years ago, Mar\u00eda completed the odyssey of applying for U.S. citizenship. As\nshe recited the Oath of Allegiance in that Cincinnati courtroom, our girls\nwaved American flags. What an experience! By now you can understand why I, an\nIowan who has witnessed immigration first-hand, have been drawn to Storm Lake\nmore and more. Though 700 miles away, I feel vested in the community. All\nAmericans should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funny.\nThe town feels closer now than it did when I lived near the lakeshore on West\n4th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s\nwhy, when Miami U announced\na new program to connect humanities classes with communities (or businesses),\nto build students\u2019 credentials, I thought immediately of Storm Lake. What\nbetter case study could there be to understand the global America my students\nwill enter upon graduation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting\nnext month, we will swallow whole-hog the fascinating history of Storm Lake and\nBuena Vista County. The class, \u201cResearching Midwestern History,\u201d will focus on\nthe past and present of the City Beautiful. Now is a critical time to document\nits history as thoroughly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\ninvite you to join us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\n15 students and I will approach this in two ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First,\nwe will analyze news from the Pilot-Tribune<\/em> and the Times<\/em> over\nseveral decades. Among our questions: how have changes in the town been\nrepresented in its newspapers? How have the experiences of newcomers and\nlong-established families redefined a sense of community? What are the\nconnections between labor, migration, and identity? Has Storm Lake found a way\nto reconcile the real world with the American dream?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyou enjoy history, or scanning the news from bygone days, we welcome your help\ncataloging these news articles. This will be done using a free online platform\ndeveloped here at Miami U, and we can train volunteers. All you\u2019ll need is a\ncomputer, some curiosity about the past, and a cup of coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second,\nwe will conduct oral history interviews with all Storm Lakers who wish to\nparticipate. Due to the current pandemic, we will do this primarily on the\ninternet (using FaceTime or Zoom) or by telephone, though I\u2019m hoping for some\nin-person interviews in late spring, if at all possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyou have witnessed the town change over decades, or if you came recently with a\nhope for a better tomorrow, we encourage you to talk with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once\nfinished, my class will deposit this research with the Buena Vista County\nHistorical Society, and it will be publicly available there and online. Our\nclass will also create blog posts and videos with updates on our progress,\navailable at https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake<\/a>. Please interact with us. Offer\nyour ideas. Critique our work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthe end of the semester in May, I\u2019d like to visit the town with my students, to\nreport on our project, to share any conclusions, and, most importantly, to\nintroduce them to a special place with global ties in the middle of America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I graduated from Buena Vista University in 1998, I knew Storm Lake only pragmatically \u2013 where certain professors lived, the fastest walk to Lake Avenue, and where the Pantry Caf\u00e9 was (RIP, dear friend). Such is life on a campus quad, sheltered from the Real World, ensconced in books… Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3041,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-project-update"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3041"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/stormlake\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}